Apparel is universal, and drives one of the largest global industries and associated supply chains. Apparel imagery is evident everywhere, often in communications about apparel, but also in newer applications such as visual effects for video or film, or interactive entertainment such as video games, or in emerging applications such as the ONLINE TRY-ONSM service of garments via any web enabled device.
Apparel imagery is most often generated in a photo studio, where the article in question is shot under controlled lighting on a flat surface, or worn on a mannequin, or when worn by an actual human model. Usually multiple still shots or moving image sequences are taken, and then processed for use in print or on the web, or in design, or in movie productions.
Still images of a garment article for use on the web usually depict the garment from one or two points of view to help the viewer get an impression of the article. Sometimes more than two points of view are shown, but production costs for each point-of-view prevent more liberal use of multiple points of view. However, once a garment article has been digitized and processed into a three-dimensional model it is possible for a computer to generate a multitude of different points of view at a lower incremental cost per shot than studio photography, thus increasing efficiency—as long as the digitization and conversion of a real article of clothing into a three-dimensional model can be attained at a cost that is lower than studio photography (not possible prior to this invention), and provided that resultant image quality is photo-realistic, i.e. it is comparable in quality to more conventional studio photography.
Additional uses exist or are emerging for digital models of a garment. For example, computer graphics can use a digital garment model to generate any point-of-view (POV) image of the garment as worn—optionally without the wearer being visible (“hollow” portrayals). Other uses are the generation of point-of-view images for use in on-line garment customization applications, or to animate the garment as part of an entertainment or review experience.
Innovations in garment pattern digitization are summarized in U.S. Pat. No. 7,031,527 or in US Patent Application US2006/0171592. These and other related developments in the garment industry deal with the digitization of garment design & garment production data. Such systems aim to facilitate more cost effective design, development & manufacturing of garments from raw materials.
High quality digital models of footwear items exist, but highly trained computer graphics artists have to model them manually in a computer over many days with painstaking attention to detail in order to achieve high levels of realism. The limited availability of skilled computer graphics artists, and the time required to generate models with high levels of realism results in production costs of thousands of dollars, thus restricting the use of such models to large budget films or games.
Alternatively, some footwear items are designed using computer-assisted tools for pattern making, some of which enable apparel designers to model and render their patterns for three-dimensional viewing on a computer screen. Representative makers of such systems are Gerber Technology of Connecticut, USA; Lectra of France; and Optitex or Browzwear of Israel. However, these systems focus on textile manufacturing-oriented requirements, such as accurate pattern file generation, nesting of patterns on to fabric for yield maximization, and related functionality. These systems, while useful in the creation of footwear designs, typically lack the ability to create photo-realistic models of the footwear items, in part because some of the visual details inherent in a footwear item are only generated down-stream during manufacturing (similar to the ‘wash’ or other ‘distressing’ of materials in a garment, for example), and in part because the creation of photo-realistic digital models using computer-assisted tools requires the aforementioned three-dimensional modeling and rendering effort, which is very labor intensive and also requires skills not typically found in the textile and garment design industry.